BJP national president Nitin Gadkari today accused Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre of not paying Rs 23 lakhs to sugarcane growers in Yavatmal.

"Thakre who runs a sugar factory in Yavatmal had purchased sugarcane from Purti Group farmers, but did not pay them," Gadkari alleged, while addressing a gathering of his supporters outside his residence, daring Thakre to face him in public about this issue.

A couple of days ago, Thakre had accused Gadkari of misusing his position as Maharashtra's Public Works Department minister between 1995-99 by helping construction of new buildings in Reshimbagh premises of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Thakre had demanded that the chief minister should probe the nexus of contractors involved in the construction of new buildings there with Gadkari's help.

While continuing his salvo, Gadkari referred to the death of seven-year-old Yogita Thakre, who was found in Gadkari's car at Gadkari Wada in Mahal locality in Nagpur a few years ago and how a daily has allegedly launched a campaign against him.

"My name was unnecessarily dragged into the death," he said.

Denying any business links with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Sancheti who is also facing heat in the coal allocation scam, Gadkari tried to distance himself from them.

Justifying his involvement in the sugarcane sector, Gadkari said Congress and NCP leaders in Vidarbha were also trying to set up new factories and revive defunct ones.

He said that Union Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel of the NCP and city Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar too were keen to operate sugar factories.